Alexander L. Bond, Jennifer F. Provencher, Richard D. Elliot, Pierre C. 
Ryan, Sherrylynn Rowe, Ian L. Jones, Gregory J. Robertson, Sabina I. 
Wilhelm, Ingestion of plastic marine debris by Common and Thick-billed 
Murres in the northwestern Atlantic from 1985 to 2012, Marine Pollution 
Bulletin, Volume 77, Issues 1–2, 15 December 2013, Pages 192-195, ISSN 
0025-326X, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2013.10.005.
(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0025326X13006073)
Abstract: Plastic ingestion by seabirds is a growing conservation issue, 
but there are few time series of plastic ingestion with large sample 
sizes for which one can assess temporal trends. Common and Thick-billed 
Murres (Uria aalge and U. lomvia) are pursuit-diving auks that are 
legally harvested in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Here, we 
combined previously unpublished data on plastic ingestion (from the 
1980s to the 1990s) with contemporary samples (2011–2012) to evaluate 
changes in murres’ plastic ingestion. Approximately 7% of murres had 
ingested plastic, with no significant change in the frequency of 
ingestion among species or periods. The number of pieces of 
plastic/bird, and mass of plastic/bird were highest in the 1980s, lowest 
in the late 1990s, and intermediate in contemporary samples. Studying 
plastic ingestion in harvested seabird populations links harvesters to 
conservation and health-related issues and is a useful source of large 
samples for diet and plastic ingestion studies.
Keywords: Atlantic; Newfoundland; Uria aalge; Common Murre; Uria lomvia; 
Thick-billed Murre